Alarm system



March 6, 1945 C KENDlG 2,371,051

ALARM SYSTEM Filed March 29, 1943 AMPuF/se 1 Azeaer'affzwo s, INVENTOR.

QYWS? M ATTORNEY.

Patented Mar. 6, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE mm srsrnm Albert0.1mm, Les Aiiteles, can. Application March 29, 1943,,Serlal No. 480,937A 9 Claims.

This invention relates to an alarm system.

An object of the invention is to provide an alarm system for use inconjunction with a telephone system employing a phonograph which has arecord with the desired message pertaining to the alarm recordedthereon, and to provide means whereby, in the event of a certaincontingency the phonograph will be started in operation and thereafterthe proper telephone More specifically, an object of the invention is toprovide an alarm system adapted to be used in conjunction with atelephone employing a phonograph which has an electrically operatedamplifier, such phonograph being preferable for its fidelity inreproducing the message recorded on the record. Such amplifiersgenerally employ tubes and for this reason a time allowance must be madeto allow the tubes to warm up before the operator is called.

It is therefore another object of the invention to provide an alarmsystem useful in conjunction with a telephone which in the event of acertain contingency will first start operation of the phonograph andcause the amplifier thereof to be energized and allow a sufiicient timedelay to occur to permit the tubes of the amplifier to warm up beforeestablishing the telephone connection. In this way at the time that thetelephone connection is established the phonograph and its amplifierwill be in full normal operating condition to transmit the messagerecorded on the record to the telephone transmitter.

A further object of the invention is to provide an alarm system adaptedto be used in conjunction with a telephone which employs a phonographhaving a record with two recordings thereon one recording being of amessage indicating that a burglary is being committed and the otherrecording being of a message indicating the existence of a fire, and toprovide two tone arms for the phonograph, one for each recording, and toprovide means for connecting the tone arm engaging the proper messagewith the amplifier in the event of either a'burglary or a fire.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, which will be mademanifest in the following de tailed description and specifically pointedout in the appended claims, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawing for an illustrative embodiment of the invention, wherein thefigure is a diagrammatic wiring diagram of the alarm system embodyingthe present invention.

Referring to the accompanying drawing wherein similar referencecharacters designate similar parts throughout, the alarm systemembodying the present invention is designed to be energized by normalcurrent supplied to buildlugs for lighting purposes and the like. Itcomprises a transformer the primary winding of which is indicated at 10adapted to be connected by leads II and I2 to a source of current, notshown, which may be the conventional volt alternating current suppliedto the building within which the alarm system is disposed. The secondarywinding of the transformer indicated at I3, is in circuit with one ormore detector wires It or the equivalent, which maybe arranged at orover windows, doors, or other openings, and which are intended to bebroken on the window or door being opened by an unauthorized person soas to break the circuit through a relay Iii, the winding of which is inseries with the secondary winding IS. The relay I5 has an armature l6associated therewith which is normally attracted by the relay winding soas to disengage a contact I7. However,'if the detector winding I4 isbroken or the circuit including the secondary winding l3 and the relayI5 is otherwise broken, armature l6 will be allowed'to fall and engagecontact ll.

The leads II and II are connected by conductors l8 and I9 to theelectric motor 20 of a phonograph, the conductor l9 including thearmature l6 and the contact l1 and the conductor l8 including a contact18a engageable by a brush carried by one of the tone arms. On theturntable of the phonograph which is rotated by the motor 20, there is arecord 2| which has two separate recordings thereon. One of theserecordings, such as for example the inner recording 23, I

may have a message recorded thereon such as A burglary is beingcommitted at 299 B Street." This message may be repetitious, that isrepeated over and over throughout the recording. Similarly, the outerrecording 22 may have a message thereon indicative of existence of afire, such as There is a fire at 299 B Street, it being assumed that theaddress 229 B Street is the address at which the alarm system has beeninstalled.

Two pickups or tone arms 24 and 25 are provided, one tone arm being usedin conjunction with each recording. Thus, as illustrated the needle onthe tone arm 24 is engageable with the outer recording 22 and the needleon the tone arm 25 is engageable with the inner recording 23. The brushon the tone arm 24 is engageable with the contact [8a normally so thatthe circuit through the motor will'be normally closed when armature itengages contact I'I. However, when tone arm 24 nears the end of theouter recording 22 the brush carried thereby disengages contact I81: andthus breaks the circuit through the motor even though armature 16 may bestill engaging contact l1.

One side of each tone arm is electrically connected, such as byconductors 28 and 21, to the amplifier 28, which, in turn, is connectedto a loud speaker 29. The other side of each tone arm is connected byconductors 30 and 3| to contacts 32 and 33. Contacts 32 and 33 areengageable by a switch or armature 34 adapted to be actuated by asolenoid 35. It normally, how- ,ever, is an engagement with contact 32and it is at all times electrically connected to the other side of theamplifier 28. Solenoid 35 is in circuit with a local battery 38 and athermo-responsive means 31, the pointer of which is engageable with thecontact 39. Thus, at normal temperature inasmuch as armature 35 is innormal engagement with contact 32 tone arm 25 is electrically connectedto the amplifier 28. However, in the event that the temperature rises tosome abnormal degree, such as for example 110 F., the pointer 38 onengaging contact 39 will close the circuit through the local battery 35and through solenoid 35, thus attracting the armature 34 causing it todisengage contact 32 and to engage contact 33. This serves to disconnecttone army 25 from the amplifier 28 and to connect tone arm 24. to theamplifier in the event of fire. Across the conductors l8 and I9 there isconnected a second transformer, the primary winding of which isindicated at 40. The secondary winding 4| of this transformer isconnected to two solenoids 42 and 43. Solenoid 42, when energized,serves to lift a bar or weight 44 that is positioned on the telephonedesk set 45 so as to weight the switch thereof when the receiver andtransmitter 46 is removed therefrom. In the event that the telephonedesk set forms a part of a system employing a central operatorexclusively, solenoid 43 and its associatedstructure can be dispensedwith. If the telephone is of the dial or automatic type as shown,solenoid 43 has a core 41 operatively connected to a lever 41a which isengageable with one of the finger openings of the dial. Lever 41a isintended to engage the finger opening on the dial which serves to callthe operator. In other words, in order to set the construction the dialis rotated from its normal position and lever 41 caused to engage theoperator opening which is usually the digit zero. The two solenoids 42and 43 together with the secondary winding 41 are in circuit with acontact on tone arm 25 which is engageable with a spaced contact 48. Theamplifier 28 conforms to the conventional phonograph amplifier employingtubes which require some small length of time to warm up in order toeffectively transmit the message as picked up by the tone arm from therecord to the speaker 29.

The thermo-responsive device 49 which may be similar to thethermo-responsive device 31 is arranged to have its pointer 59 engage acontact 5| to shunt across the connection I6-ll in the event that anabnormal temperature rise occurs. Preferably, this thermo-responsivedevice is designed to establish contact at a slightly higher temperaturethan the thermo-responsiv device 31 such as for example 120 F.

With the alarm system installed, itf-is readily employed with theconventional telephone and it is set by removing the receiver andtransmitter 43 from the desk set, positioning the transmitter near thespeaker 29v and the weight '"4'4-is positioned on the desk set to occupythe' place and weight of the receiver and transmitter 48. The armature41 of the solenoid 43 is positioned to engage the dial so that whenactuatedit will serve to call the operator. With the alarm system thusset, in the event that the window W is opened so as to break the circuitthrough the secondary l3 and the relay [5, armature l6 drops intoengagement with contact I! and thus closes the circuit through the motor29 and through the transformer winding 48. When the motor 20 startsoperating this turns the turntable so as to rotate the record 2| beneathboth tone arms 24 and 25. At the same time that the motor 20 isenergized the circuit, including the amplifier U 28, is also energizedso that the tubes of the amplifier immediately start to warm up whichmay require some small time delay. After this predetermined time haselapsed both tone arms 24 and 25 will have progressed somewhat towardthe center of the record and as the tone arm 25.

progresses inwardly it eventually contacts contact 48 to close thecircuit through the secondary winding 4i and the solenoids 42 and 43'.Solenoid 42 is effective to lift'the weight 44 to call the operator inthe "event that the desk set is used with a telephone system employing acentral operator exclusively. If the telephone is of the automatic ordial operated type the energizing of the solenoid 43 serves to operatethe lever 41a to release the dial and-allow it to return to its normalposition it being understood that the dial has been turned from thenormal position at the time that the alarm system is set. The releasingof the dial and its return to normal serves to call the operatorsimultaneously with the lifting of the weight 44. Thus, the calling ofthe operator is delayed until the amplifier has warmed up and is infulloperating condition.

When the operator is thus connected the message recorded on the record2| is transmitted through tone arm 25, amplifier 28, and speaker 29 tothe transmitter of the telephone and the operator being thus advisedrepetitiously of a burglary at the address given may notify policeauthorities to this effect. After the record has been traversedcompletelyby the tone arms, tone arm 24 may disengage contact I8a thusbreaking the circuit through motor 20 and stopping the phonograph.Contact 48 may be so arranged that it will be simultaneously disengagedby tone arm 25 at the inner end of its movement, thus breaking thecircuits through the solenoids 42 and 43. When the circuit.throughsolenoid 42 is broken weight 44 is allowed to return, re-

storing the desk set to its normal position exthe operation of the partsas before with the exception that tone arm 24 will deliver the messageon the outer recording 22 to the amplifier. It will be noted thatcontact 48 is normally disengaged from tone arm 2| and is only engagedby it after the phonograph has started operation. Consequently, thetubes in the amplifier 28 are given an opportunity to warm up so thatthere will be a proper reproduction of the message through the loudspeaker 29 at the time that the operator is called. It will beappreciated that should the operator be immediately called before theamplifier has warmed up and is in full working condition that she willreceive no message from the speaker 29 and is apt to disregard the call.By postponing the call the operator until after the amplifier has had anopportunity to warm up the operator when called is immedi-' atelyinformed of the'burglary or the fire as the case may be. After themessage has been com.- pletely delivered parts are restored to normal bythe breaking of the circuit through the motor 20 accomplished by thedisengagement of the contact [8a and by the breaking of the circuitthrough the solenoids 42 and 43 accomplished by the disengagement ofcontact ll.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the presentalarm system is subject to great deal of alteration and modification inits being adapted to various telephone systems.

Various changes may be made in the details of construction withoutdeparting from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined by theappended claims- I I claim:

1. An alarm system for use in conjunction with a telephone including aphonograph having a I,

record with two recordings thereon, a tone arm engageable with eachrecording on the record, an amplifier, means normally connecting onetone arm to the amplifier, thermo-responsive means for connecting theother tone arm to the amplifier and disconnecting the first tone arm,means operable in the event of either of two contingencies for startingthe phonograph and energizing its amplifier, and delayed action meansfor subsequently establishing a telephone connection to enable themessage picked up by the connected tone arm to be supplied thereto fromthe amplifier.

4. An alarm system for use in conjunction with a telephone including aphonograph having a record with two recordings thereon a tone armengageable with each recording on theirecord, an amplifier, meansnormally connecting one tone arm to the amplifier. thermo-responsivemeans for connecting the other tone arm to the amplifier anddisconnecting the first tone arm, means operable in the event of eitherof two contingencies for starting the phonograph and energizing itsamplifier, and means operable by one or the tone arms for subsequentlyestablishing a telephone connection after one of the tone arms hasprogressed a predetermined distance across the record affording anopportunity for the amplifier to start normal operation prior toestablishing the telephone connection whereby the message of the recordcan be supplied to the telephone immediately from the amplifier when thetelephone connection is made.

ALBERT C. KENDIG.

